[There is a little something further back that is hard to see in Krem's eyes at Ander's question. It isn't something he hasn't heard, but it still bothers him from time to time.] When you get to that point it's not really a choice, but survival. My father sold himself into slavery when he was put out of business by a Magister's initiative to try and clothe the poor.

It kept food on the table for my mother and I. When I was old enough, I enlisted and most of my coin went to her.

[Even if her plan had been to marry him off, but that hadn't been his plan for his own life, and being stubborn helped win out against her at the very least. It's better to live your life as a lie you enjoy than be stuck in one you hated he supposed.]